Rav Chaim Volozhiner: Shas is Shas

Our good friends at revach.net shared an interesting story today. During the time of Rav Chaim of Volozhin, there was a baal habayis who had completed the entire Shas. Rav Chaim, out of respect for the man, would stand up for him when he would enter the room. The talmidim of Rav Chaim felt that it was an affront to his own kavod to stand up for a baal habayis. They protested to Rav Chaim, saying that although the baal habayis did indeed learn Shas and spent a lot of time learning, he didn’t know Shas in depth, so it was not respectful for a great gaon like himself to stand up for him.Rav Chaim answered that there are two types of Shas – the Vilna Shas, a beautiful Shas with a quality print, and another Shas printed in Poland which was of lesser quality and had inferior print. Rav Chaim explained that if one had these two sets of Shas, he wouldn’t say that the inferior Shas is not a Shas. He would merely say that it is not as beautiful. Similarly, someone who knows Shas is someone who knows Shas, said Rav Chaim, and therefore it’s appropriate to treat him with the proper kavod.